


Here With You

by Alley_Skywalker



Category: Romeo And Juliet - All Media Types, Romeo et Juliette - Presgurvic, Rómeó és Júlia (Színház)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Injuries, Pre-Canon, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-11
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-19 01:08:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20201227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alley_Skywalker/pseuds/Alley_Skywalker
Summary: Mercutio shows up at Romeo's in the middle of the night looking a mess.





	Here With You

“Mercutio, what are you—oh, dear God! What happened?” Romeo’s expression would have been funny if it wasn’t so genuinely terrified. 

“Oh, nothing really, just a bit of a scrape.” Mercutio grinned, but it was strained, and the knuckles of his hands were white where he clutched the edge of Romeo’s window. “I’d rather you let me in though.” 

Romeo threw his window open the rest of the way and helped Mercutio climb into his room. His eyes were still wide and terrified. Mercutio figured he must look a mess, what with the blood smeared over the side of his face and seeping through his shirt on the right side. 

“Sorry to have almost broken your window with the rocks, but I couldn’t find anything smaller and I don’t think your parents would have appreciated me appearing in their sitting room so late looking…well, like this.” 

“What are you _talking _about?” The first hints of panic were blooming in Romeo’s voice. “You’re bleeding—you need a surgeon!” 

Mercutio put both hands on Romeo’s shoulders, as much to calm him as to steady himself. Apparently climbing up to Romeo’s room had taken a greater toll on him than he had expected. “No, I don’t. Neither of these cuts is very deep. But it_ would _be nice to get them bandaged up. Not sure I can make it home without that. Too far.” 

Romeo, with a look of disbelief pushed him lightly down onto the bed. “Sit. Let me see.” He lit two candles and took a closer look at the cut over Mercutio’s temple. Those always bled badly without being dangerous. Romeo bit his lip and gestured for Mercutio to lift his shirt. He did, giving Romeo a little suggestive smirk – his mind was a little too fuzzy to think of anything clever enough to bother vocalizing. Romeo swatted at him lightly. “It doesn’t look too deep,” Romeo concluded finally. “I still think we should—”

“Please, let’s not.” Mercutio made a frustrated gesture. “You’ll just end up waking the household and it’s not even worth it. I’m not some little girl to need a surgeon for a couple of scratches. I told you, I’d go home but—”

“It’s far.” Romeo nodded. 

“And I could use some help cleaning up,” Mercutio admitted, a little reluctantly, looking up into Romeo’s face. 

Romeo bit his lip, recognizing the code for _I don’t want to be alone just now. _“Alright, I’ll try to do this quietly.” It took Romeo some time, but finally he gathered up a basin of water, some bandages and a herbal salve his nurse used to use on cuts and scrapes he’d often get when he was younger. “Take off your shirt and stay still.”

Mercutio opened his mouth for a reply. 

“No.” Romeo’s tone harbored no argument and, with a pout, Mercutio, to Romeo’s surprise and admitted concern, kept quiet. “I’m going to do the one on your side first, it looks deeper. Hold this against your temple for now.” 

The cold water made Mercutio shiver. Cool night air was leaking through the half-open window and apparently, he had bled enough for his body to feel the effects. He was still a little dizzy though not as much as he had been while stumbling through the Montague garden, happy he knew all the ins and outs of Romeo’s home that he hardly needed to see where he was going. He watched Romeo clean away the blood and winced at the sting of the salve he applied but remained quiet. He didn’t trust himself enough to speak coherently just then. 

“It’s _really _worrying when you’re this quiet,” Romeo commented finally, with just a barely perceptible hitch in his voice. “Usually you can’t shut up.” 

Mercutio rolled his eyes. “What would you like me to say?”

“For one, you could explain what the hell happened.”

“Bit of a fight. Nothing serious. I didn’t actually start it this time.”

Romeo scoffed, pulling the bandage he had wrapped around Mercutio’s abdomen a little too tightly. 

Mercutio winced. “I didn’t!”

“Alright, alright, you didn’t. And walking away wasn’t an option?” Romeo tied off the bandaging and tuned his attention to the cut on Mercutio’s temple. 

“Not really.” He tried to not think about it. How the two men had come out of the shadows, how he had not expected them to be there, had not seem them coming. Did not have time to draw. If he had been drunk, he probably would have been dead. But since neither Benvolio or Romeo had been with him that night, he was mostly sober and was able to step out of the way of the slicing blow. Far enough that the man’s sword merely grazed the side of his face and his side. To this moment, he couldn’t say for sure if they had been Capulets of regular highway robbers. 

But the memory stuck and it was horrifying. Mercutio was no stranger to fights and pranks gone wrong and being accosted on the street for his loyalty to the Montagues. But very rarely was he this unprepared. 

“So, what childish insult set things off this time?” Romeo asked, without any bite to his tone. He was teasing, Mercutio could tell. Possibly trying to distract him. But he was tired and upset at himself and not in the mood. 

“It wasn’t my bloody fault!” he snapped, startling himself. 

Something about his tone must have gotten through because Romeo stopped what he was doing, looked into his face and held his gaze until Mercutio turned away first. “I believe you,” Romeo said finally, seriously. He reached out and took Mercutio’s hand away from his temple. The cloth he had been holding there was bright red. “Your hands are shaking.”

They were. The realization, reflected in Romeo’s voice, made him panic for a moment. It wasn’t that he was opposed to telling Romeo what had happened – he could even turn it into a funny story if he tried hard enough or was a little less dizzy. But he didn’t want Romeo to know how much the incident had unsettled him and that he still couldn’t quite pull himself together. He wasn’t the one with silly angst in their group. 

Romeo must have sensed some of his turmoil however, because he stayed still a minute, then pressed a series of flitting kisses against Mercutio’s knuckles, headless of the blood. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Romeo said finally. 

He let go and began to wash the blood from the side of Mercutio’s face, intent on what he was doing. It wasn’t like Romeo to let an issue drop, and something about that surrender made all the fight go out of Mercutio. He let out a deep breath and let his shoulders slump. “I was accosted on the way home by two men. I don’t know if they were Capulets or just bandits looking to steal a purse. I completely did not see them coming. It’s mostly luck that I was able to get away so easily. I’ve never been so—it’s never been such a close call,” he finished awkwardly, not really certain how to articulate his specific feelings. “I tried to just keep going home but I was bleeding all over the place and was getting lightheaded. You were a lot closer than home and if anyone saw me at home like this I would just get a huge lecture and—ow—you were the only other place I could imagine showing up like this.” 

“Jesus,” Romeo muttered. “That must have been terrifying.” 

“I mean It’s not the first time that—” He broke off, chewed on his lip for a moment, then admitted, “I don’t know why it’s so unsettling.” 

“I’m glad you came here. The bad news is that this might need stitches after all, unless you want a scar. But we can wait until morning.” 

“Thank you.” 

Romeo finished with the bandages, then shifted his position so he was sitting on the bed across from Mercutio. He reached out and took both of Mercutio’s hands into his. “Look at me. You’re alright now. It was a fluke. A scary fluke, and I’m certain I’ll find a good way to reprimand you for it tomorrow, but the worst is over and you’re alright.” Romeo leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together, giving him a small smile. 

Mercutio returned it, though his was still a little strained and uncertain. “I’m really fine,” he said, embarrassed at how hoarse his voice sounded. He closed his eyes and admitted, “I’m glad I’m here with you though.” 

“You should never second guess coming here,” Romeo said, softly but with a vehemence of certainty that was unquestionable. “Stay for the night. Unless you think they’ll miss you at home.” 

For a moment, Mercutio hesitated. But even the mere thought of moving just then, getting back into his ruined shirt and jacket, walking in the dark alone with the cold night air in his face, made him shudder. Romeo, noting the flinch, fumbled around for a blanket and threw it over Mercutio’s shoulders. The warmth of it, and the warmth of Romeo’s hands made up his mind for him. “If you don’t mind…”

“Of course I don’t mind, idiot. What’s wrong with you?” Five minutes later, they were curled up in Romeo’s bed, their faces inches away from each other. Mercutio wrapped one arm around Romeo to keep him close and Romeo reached out to gently push loose strands of hair out of Mercutio’s face. “Alright?”

Mercutio hummed contently. “So, I guess we now know the secret to getting into your bed: near-death experiences.”

Romeo snorted and gave him a small shove. “As though you need an excuse to be in my bed.” Mercutio opened his eyes and they were bright with a sudden thrill. Romeo groaned theatrically. “Oh, not _now._”

Mercutio giggled and hid his face against Romeo’s shoulder. If Romeo dared to torment him about this tomorrow, he would say he was high on blood loss. It all worked out. Romeo’s lips on his cheek made him still, then settle. 

“You’re terrible. Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight.”


End file.
